Pathfinder Battles Preview: Familiar Faces

Friday, February 17, 2012

So far we’ve revealed plenty of monstrous menaces soon to appear on your game table as part of this summer’s new Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder Battles prepainted miniatures set. This week, we’ll bring things back to earth with a look at some familiar friends you just might recognize from the Pathfinder world.

Before I get into the new miniature reveals, I need to point out that we still don’t have all of the specifics about when exactly this set will come out, how much it will cost, or how many figures will be in each booster box, but things have been moving steadily forward on these fronts, and I expect to be able to reveal details shortly.

Until then, we wait. I hope to soothe the ennui by showing off more awesome miniatures from the set.

These miniatures support the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path Anniversary Edition, which is scheduled for a July release. The images shown below are “paint masters,” meaning they are the painted miniatures our partners at WizKids send to their factories as guides for how the production run should be painted. Expect a little variance between these images and the final miniatures, but this is what they’ll be shooting for.

Because these are pre-production images, they’re also missing some of the fine detail work on things like tattoos, fine costume design details, and similar flourishes. These are added at the factory as a final step, so if it looks like Seoni is missing a few tattoos below, don’t despair! They’re coming soon!

Anyway, on to this week’s previews!

This uncommon figure represents Ameiko Kaijitsu, one of Pathfinder’s very first NPCs, and one who has grown to become an important figure in the Pathfinder world thanks to the events of the Jade Regent Adventure Path. Way back in the Rise of the Runelords AP, Ameiko was a simple owner of Sandpoint’s Rusty Dragon Inn, but she went on to become a very important figure whose destiny spans the globe of Golarion. She appears here kitted out in her adventuring gear, ready to help your player characters in either campaign.

The elf fighter/ranger Shalelu Andosana is older than the town of Sandpoint itself, but over the centuries she’s come to view the place as home. She makes an excellent ally and information source for the players in Rise of the Runelords, and her appearance in the Jade Regent Adventure Path means that this uncommon miniature, like Ameiko above, comes in doubly useful for Pathfinder GMs running both campaigns. Plus, female elf ranger with a bow = great miniature for lots and lots and lots of player characters.

So far we’ve managed to fit an iconic character or two into each of our Pathfinder Battles releases, and Rise of the Runelords is no exception. The first iconic in this set (an uncommon) is Harsk, the iconic ranger. I love the detail WizKids was able to achieve with Harsk’s face, and some of the detail on his outfit is absolutely amazing. Artists and sculptors always complain about Wayne Reynolds’s highly complex original art for Harsk, but we think WizKids did a great job capturing the detail and nuance of this popular character.

Speaking of popular iconic characters, they don’t come more popular than this lovely lass, the inimitable Seoni! Seoni made her debut on one of the covers of the original Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path issues, so we knew we had to include her in the set (at the uncommon rarity). And I’m thrilled that we did. WizKids definitely met the challenge with this figure. The picture above is pretty good, but in-hand this miniature is absolutely gorgeous, with a great color to it and lots of excellent sculpt details. Fans of Seoni might notice that her tattoos and some of the pattern on her outfit is missing. As I mentioned above, that stuff will be coming at the factory, and what we’ve seen so far looks terrific.

I just converted to Pathfinder and I gotta say, I love these choices for the new set. I was thumbing through my brand new Beginner's Box, checking out the art, amazed at how much (and how well!) the first miniatures set drew from the art there and found myself wondering "how many sets will we have to wait?" for all four of these characters.

I agree with the poster above that it'd be unfortunate to miss out on a greater variety of monsters and PC figures with TOO many iconics or named NPCs, but man, this is shaping up to be a good lookin' set of miniatures!

I was just saying I would like to other pcs other than the iconics. Who can out of the box has no preconceived notions about who they are..

Now, me, I'm on the other side of the fence on this. I'd like to see MORE of the "PC/NPC" type minis to.be iconics, or at least based on specific NPCs. That way, I can have the perfect mini to represent that NPC if I'm running that adventure, and if I'm not, I can ignore the name on the bottom and use it for whatever else I want to.

(@gnomewizard: Not meant as a rbuttal or singling you out. Your post waa just xonvenient to reply to as a set-up. 8^)

Don't want to buy cases just to get the iconics and NPC types? Talk to anyone who did buy a case before you go purchasing singles. I'm hoping trading will come back in vogue. I know I'd part with some of my doubles or triples of Character types, and my want list is wide and varied.

Erik, I noticed that these characters are not on foot pads like the previous ones. (Although when looking at Harsk, it looks like he is on foot pads, but the pads are inset into the base?) Will the minis that we get have foot pads, or will they look like these?

It looks like they are still there but maybe embedded in the base? Look at harsks feet - the two round pads appear to be there but in the base, can't tell with the others due to angles.
Now how many NPC's/PC's are in this set? I am curious to see the balance between monsters and these types. I'd especially like to see if these are in the set...

AWESOME, 8 of 11. Now I just have to keep guessing and waiting on previews. All the while hoping I don't wet myself in excitement as the months roll on. I am very excited by this set - Once again I commend the work between you and wizkidz and hope this can just keep going.

I'd also like to ask what the rarity of the yeti is - gonna need me a few of those...

wow, "that" secondary market is more about gouging then sales. Our FLGS sells 1 case in random pack, on shelf, and 1 case opened for box price in display. I pay the same $X for an orc, knowing I am getting an orc, than I would as a closed box.

I agree that these miniatures so far displayed are awesome, and I will be getting a case. What I'd like to know, will one case "guarantee" a complete set? I really can't afford more than one, and as was pointed out, the secondary market seems to be more about price gouging than anything else.

I love the first two releases, and can only hope that the quality continues. Good work, Paizo.

With 60 figures in the set, I would guess the cases would have to be much larger to complete a set, and much more expensive. Combine this with large and huge sized minis RotR will likely be quite the hit on the wallet. At least we have some time to save some coin.

With 60 figures in the set, I would guess the cases would have to be much larger to complete a set, and much more expensive. Combine this with large and huge sized minis RotR will likely be quite the hit on the wallet. At least we have some time to save some coin.

I am really looking forward to many of the figures from this set, but I really must say that I am firmly in the secondary singles market now.

But I have a great local store that sells them as singles at amazing prices. All the commons are less than $3, while uncommons are around $3, and rares are $5+. Hell, I got 10 goblins for a grand total of 10 dollars (they were the cheapest figure). My friend got 20. Needless to say that they don't have any goblins anymore.

This is one of the aspects we're still working with WizKids to determine. Expect to know the details as soon as we do!

I am sure we all will appreciate learning the details as soon as feasibly possible. It is clearly going to be an incredible set. Your previews are already well above my highest expectations. Getting a full set and then some is a high priority for me this year. By giving us details soon, this will allow us to plan for its release. For now I do realistically anticipate that it will be somewhat more expensive than H&M. If I plan high, and Wizkids comes up with something lower, then it is a win. If it is close to what I suspect, then at least there will be no unpleasant surprises.

1) No rarities on the bases. I must have missed the reasoning somewhere for not doing this, based on your short answer. Can you (or someone) point me to where I can learn more why this was decided?

This just hasn't been a priority for us since the beginning. There's not really an agenda to it. Maybe we should include that info somehow.

With the way the rarities are distributed amongst the miniatures, their individual rarities are only broadly defined. Take the Heroes & Monsters release, in reality there were actually 3 different levels of "rare" minis. Also several questioned whether the large rares should even be rares at all. (Based on the frequency of minis appearing in the case reports half of the larges should have been common and the other half should have been rare or uncommon).

The way that WotC released their minis, it made sense to clearly categorize the level of rarity and to include it on the mini's base. Since the Paizo/WK mini's rarity covers more broad categories, I really don't think that stamping their rarity on the bottom is really needed as much. Also, it allows Paizo to do last minute rarity "line-up" changes, without having to worry about changing the printing on the bottom.

However, to contradict myself now, I know that there are many players that open their minis up at their FLGS as soon as they buy then, and when you flip it over and see that little star (or other "rare" marking) on the bottom, it feels like you won something.

Erik, just a quick bump for some information requests. (I'm not sure if you missed the posts, or if you needed some time to find out the information -- or perhaps its just top secret information which would require our deaths if it were relayed):

#1
Erik, I noticed that these characters are not on foot pads like the previous ones. (Although when looking at Harsk, it looks like he is on foot pads, but the pads are inset into the base?) Will the minis that we get have the raised foot pads, or will they look like the minis depicted?

#2
What rarity is the Yeti?

#3
(Okay, this last one is not a re-post, just more of an attempt to minimize my salivating.)

So we know that there might be 8 of these 11 in the set (Nualia, Skinsaw man and skinsaw cultists, Ironbriar, scribbler, kobold barbarian, Ordikan, Vraxeris, Athroxis, Kaleb and Kourzag), any chance you could confirm 1 or 2, just so I can fill in a couple more empty titles in the gallery? :) (I'm still trying to work on that whole "patience" concept.)

1) No rarities on the bases. I must have missed the reasoning somewhere for not doing this, based on your short answer. Can you (or someone) point me to where I can learn more why this was decided?

This just hasn't been a priority for us since the beginning. There's not really an agenda to it. Maybe we should include that info somehow.

Uninvited Ghost wrote:

2) Bendy weapons. I would much rather have some broken weapons because the plastic is more rigid than having all weapons bendy, so longswords are all curved etc.

Have you noticed your Heroes & Monsters weapons bending? Mine seem to be in pretty good shape.

1) Oh. Okay. I thought I missed something. It's a feature that I think most people would like...

2) So far, it's a bit better than DDM. But yes, I find that many weapons are not straight right out of the box. At least that's how it was in my 4 bricks. In contrast, I LOVE that the bases are rigid, unlike DDM.

So this is what seemed off about the mini. Thanks for pointing it out. I always figured her as white-haired too.

Seoni has blonde hair. In some art it is a dirty blonde, but it is never white like merisiel's. I made a similar remark about her blonde hair on the cover of a module or companion book and someone from Paizo said she actually has blonde hair.

I love all of these! I'm a little sad that we get an awesome bard that isn't male, but it's nice to see bards get some representation regardless. The only thing that would make this set perfect for me is the inclusion of a hag miniature.

Another great preview. With the talk of other NPCs that could/will be in the set, I'm hoping for Orik Vancaskerkin - he'd make a good fighter mini in general, in addition to being used specifically in Burnt Offerings.

I just converted to Pathfinder and I gotta say, I love these choices for the new set. I was thumbing through my brand new Beginner's Box, checking out the art, amazed at how much (and how well!) the first miniatures set drew from the art there and found myself wondering "how many sets will we have to wait?" for all four of these characters.

You don't have to wait for minis of the four characters in the beginner box. Check out the Beginner Box Heros!

Erik, I noticed that these characters are not on foot pads like the previous ones. (Although when looking at Harsk, it looks like he is on foot pads, but the pads are inset into the base?) Will the minis that we get have the raised foot pads, or will they look like the minis depicted?

WizKids is doing what they can to reduce the number of minis that have foot pads. There will still be a few, in cases where they really need the extra surface area to ensure that the figure stays glued to the base.

About the foot pads being inset into the base: we gave the paint masters back to WizKids, so I only have the photo to go by, but it sure does look like that! I myself gave that idea to WizKids a few weeks ago, but I then completely failed to notice that they seem to have actually done it!

WizKids is doing what they can to reduce the number of minis that have foot pads. There will still be a few, in cases where they really need the extra surface area to ensure that the figure stays glued to the base.

About the foot pads being inset into the base: we gave the paint masters back to WizKids, so I only have the photo to go by, but it sure does look like that! I myself gave that idea to WizKids a few weeks ago, but I then completely failed to notice that they seem to have actually done it!

That would be great if they will be manufactured like that! I was starting to accept the foot pads, but it makes for such a "cleaner" appearance if they are inset into the base. Great idea Vic!

WizKids is doing what they can to reduce the number of minis that have foot pads. There will still be a few, in cases where they really need the extra surface area to ensure that the figure stays glued to the base.

About the foot pads being inset into the base: we gave the paint masters back to WizKids, so I only have the photo to go by, but it sure does look like that! I myself gave that idea to WizKids a few weeks ago, but I then completely failed to notice that they seem to have actually done it!

That would be great if they will be manufactured like that! I was starting to accept the foot pads, but it makes for such a "cleaner" appearance if they are inset into the base. Great idea Vic!

I talked to WizKids about it, and it turns out that they were already working on the idea independently. So yes, they intend to countersink the footpads where possible. There will be a couple of minis in the set that do need footpads that can't be countersunk, but probably just a couple.

Also, they noted that the presence or absence of footpads at the paint master stage is not necessarily an indication of the final form of the mini; it's subject to change once they get to final molding.